The Russian Ministry of Health appealed to the regional authorities with a request to send doctors and nurses to work in the occupied territories of Ukraine. This was announced on Twitter by journalist Dmitry Kolezev, referring to a letter sent to him by a doctor friend. He also told The Insider that he saw another document confirming the intentions of the Ministry of Health.
The letter sent by the department to the regions refers to the formation of mobile medical teams that will be sent to Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. The Ministry of Health asks to send at least 10 doctors from each region – doctors and health workers with secondary specialized education in any specialty. They are promised an employment contract and a business trip with appropriate payments.
The letter is dated January 12th. Lists of doctors ready to travel must be submitted by January 19.
Reports that Russian doctors are working in the occupied territories, including with the civilian population, have appeared before. In early January, the head of the Lugansk region, Sergei Gaidai, said that 300 children were taken to Moscow from the Luhansk and Donetsk regions with the participation of doctors. “Visiting teams of Russian doctors conducted medical examinations of boys and girls in almost every city in the occupied Luhansk region in the autumn,” Gaidai said. According to him, Russian doctors found “serious injuries” in healthy children, after which they were taken to Russia using special vehicles or air ambulances.
Vera Yastrebova, director of the public organization Eastern Human Rights Group, claimed that the Russian authorities allocated money for the “medical filtration” of 82,000 Ukrainian children.
In addition, teachers from Russia are brought to the occupied regions to teach Ukrainian children according to the Russian school curriculum.